This author stresses adult education to try to help alleviate these conflicts. In fact, this author has been called into Senior Housing facilities in Salt Lake County, Utah, to speak to the issue of diversity tolerance. In one case, the residents had exploded in anger over the minority people living in the same building. After teaching them in a large group that we all are ethnic and a minority to someone else, there were questions to answer and feelings to soothe.

      A few weeks later the director of the housing unit, an African-American woman herself, reported to me that the fighting had subsided and some of the residents had made up to each other. From that experience, there may be some hope for a diverse workplace which includes older adults. Of course, the role of affirmative action should still be effective in the workplace, especially so because it and the EEO help the older worker have a job along side the minority population. But there still may be testy feelings left over for some of the older generation.

      To be accurate, it must be stated that older workers may also be prejudice against the “young kid who does not know much about life,” even if that sentence is describing their current boss. Some people have difficulty in accepting themselves and their own limitations. Unfortunately, this may result in a maladaptive attitude of putting others down so they might feel better about themselves. This trait is not one tied to aging, but is a personality trait that may be found in individuals of any generation, including those of the older generation who should be more mature and less critical.